Dealing with stress in the workplace

Stress in the workplace has become stigmatised due to the assumption that stress is over exaggerated.

Estimates show that 40% of the workforce feel under excessive amounts of pressure, and this has increased in light of the economic climate. It is important that you look into the level of risks that your staff are working at and manage this to minimise the cost to your business. Gemma Butterworth, a Health and Safety Advisor at NorthgateArinso Employer Service gives her tips on dealing with stress in the workplace.

Top tips for avoiding stress in the workplace

• Identify how stress may affect your business – don’t underestimate the risks to your employees. In the current economic climate employees’ main fears are around job security. Make sure you take time out to control these risks.
• Implement good safety management – by implementing the necessary controls, you can establish a healthy, happy workforce. It is important that you take time to understand and think about what stress actually means to the person suffering from it before you can effectively manage the situation.
• Recognise the signs of stress – we have all at some point felt the pressure of excessive work / life balance which can make it difficult to identify. There are various indications that a person is under stress. If you suspect a member of staff is suffering from stress it is important that you act quickly.
• How and when to take action:
  • Firstly identify the stress factors within the business – e.g. look at the deadlines within the business identify if they are realistic.
  • Look at how much support they are receiving from their line manager and ensure they fully understand their role.
  • Ensure they don’t have conflicting roles within the business.
• Top tips for improving stress management:
  • Gain management commitment.
  • Act quickly.
  • Pro-actively manage stress at work by dealing with those issues and implementing the correct policies.

Why is this important to your business/organisation?

If your business/organisation successfully implement a stress management policy within their business they will see changes in work days lost, a boost in morale amongst employees and also an increase in productivity.

• This year a survey by the Stress Management Society revealed that one in five of the working population is affected by stress, the biggest cause of sickness absence in the UK.
• Over 105 million days are lost to stress each year, costing employers £1.24 billion.
• The CIPD‘s annual Absence Management Survey in July 2009 showed that staff absence has dropped from 7.2 days to 6.4 days per employee per year. The reason behind this is more active measures by employers in saving money as a means of coping with the recession – with four in 10 admitting to refocusing on reducing absences.
• Employees are concerned about job security due to the credit crunch – with four in 10 employers admitting that sick days were a contributing factor when making redundancy decisions.